SIMPLE ADS THAT SPEAK
Anyone who has spent five minutes on BuzzFeed in his or her life knows that people find value in simplicity: simple humor, simple tips and reminiscing on simpler times. The KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid) doesn’t hinder creativity; it cuts out the unnecessary complexity. As both a consumer and advertiser, I find that much of the time the truly captivating part of an ad is in its simplicity (minimalism anyone?).
Big productions can often get in the way—confusing consumers on what exactly is the brand, product and purpose being advertised (not anywhere near ideal marketing). But using a simple idea, story or outlet can help brands clear through the clutter, whether the message is advocating human rights or promoting laundry detergent. This Two for Tuesday, we’re featuring two attention-grabbing simple ads.
UN WOMEN
The simple idea: a Google search bar.
The world’s most popular search engine shows just how negative attitudes towards women are with just simple Google search predictions. Since Google bases their predictions off popular/ common searches, the search carries a lot of weight as the ad features real searches including “Women should be slaves,” “Women shouldn’t have rights,” “Women need to be controlled” and “Women cannot be trusted.” The ad is extremely eye-opening, and that’s largely due to the power of the simple copy. For this ad, copywriters didn’t really even have to write much more than “Women should,” “Women shoudn’t,” “Women need to” and “Women cannot” for the campaign.
TIDE
The simple idea: seasonal vines.
What’s simpler than six seconds of branded content? Creating a branded vine is harder than it looks; however, Tide rose to the challenge. Not only did the detergent brand incorporate Halloween and several allusions to scary films including Carrie (a 1976 horror film based off Stephen King’s novel which was remade this year), but they also showed exactly why consumers might want to think about detergent during Halloween… stains. Fake blood and makeup beware. Tide’s simple idea, simple production and simple execution equated to brilliant social media.
From the deep public service announcements to fun, seasonal social media ads, simplicity works for marketing campaigns.
Have you seen any brilliantly simple ads lately? Share them with us in the comments!
Cover Photo Source: Jeremy Kunz via Flickr
